A/HRC/20/12 Draft National Action Plan on Gender and National Strategy on Gender Equality 14. Following the restructuring of the Government in December 2011, the newly formed Ministry of Youth, Labour and Employment took over the portfolio of gender-related issues from the reformed Ministry of Labour, Employment and Migration. The newly formed Ministry has limited capacity in terms of available staff and technical expertise to develop, coordinate and implement gender equality. For many years, the women’s movement in Kyrgyzstan has called on the Government to create a separate body in the executive power that would be responsible for gender equality issues and would have the mandate and sufficient resources to formulate comprehensive State policy on gender equality, and to coordinate among various government entities. However, these appeals have remained unanswered. 15. The National Action Plan on Gender Equality in Kyrgyzstan expired in 2010. In April 2011 the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights recommended that the Government consider developing a new Action Plan and a long-term strategy. In July 2011, the Government established an Inter-ministerial Working Group to draft a National Strategy on Gender Equality up to 2020 with a corresponding National Action Plan for 2012-2014. The Strategy covers four areas: (1) increasing economic opportunities for women; (2) improvement of awareness in issues of parenthood, reproductive health and life in diverse society; (3) elimination of discrimination and increasing access to justice; (4) achievement of gender parity in decision-making and development of women’s political participation. ROCA considers that long-term planning of the National Strategy, for nine years, is an innovative approach compared to short-term planning for three years, which had proved to be inefficient in the case of previous national gender policies. Another innovation is the methodology: The Ministries have conducted consultations in each province of Kyrgyzstan to reflect local priorities and needs in the policy documents. Moreover, the National Action Plan for 2012-2014 provides for a detailed budget. 16. Originally expected to be completed by October 2011, both drafts should be submitted for further discussion with major national and international stakeholders in the spring of 2012. Once approved by a Government decree, the drafts will go before Parliament. 17. On 24 and 25 October 2011, ROCA, in cooperation with international partners, supported a training-of-trainers on gender issues, carried out by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Migration. Participants are expected to undertake regional discussions to raise awareness and obtain contributions for the National Strategy on Gender Equality and the National Action Plan on Gender. Draft Law on a National Preventive Mechanism (OPCAT) 18. On 25 October 2011, the draft law “On the National Centre of the Kyrgyz Republic on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” with associated amendments to other legislative acts, was presented for its first plenary reading in Parliament. This draft law provides for the establishment of a national preventive mechanism (NPM) in line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT). Citing the Government’s conclusion that no funds would be available for the creation of the National Centre and referring to a possible duplication with the role of the Ombudsman Institution, the draft law was returned by parliamentarians to the initiators for additional review. Additional consultations were then undertaken with the Government, which changed its initial position and agreed to allocate 6 million Kyrgyz soms (around US$130,000), to be taken from the budget of the Ombudsman Institution. 5